PRAYAS

ENERGY

GROUP

Clean Energy, Good Governance & Electricity Regulation

20 – 21 May 2010Cape Town

Context

• Forum of regulators from India, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore in March 2008 in Singapore – Asian Development Bank program to enhance

effectiveness of regulation in the electricity sector; Dialogue on clean energy and regulatory governance in June 2010

• 2010 Forum: major developing country economies of India, Brazil, South Africa, and Mexico

Regulation and Clean Energy

• Context for electricity regulation– Global process of restructuring and reform– Specific country contexts

• Broadening context – Social and environmental concerns– Global climate change

• Regulators are stakeholders in international decisions• Many efforts to grapple with clean energy

Motivation and Objectives

• An exchange of experiences with clean energy

• Explore the role of regulatory governance in promoting clean energy

• Discuss practical measures to implement clean energy programs

Tradeoffs and Synergies • Systems are set up to promote conventional options

– Megawatts vs. “Negawatts• Promoting clean technology vs. increasing quality access

– Intermittency of many RE technologies• Tensions between additional costs of clean energy and

affordability– Reasonable costs?

• e.g. Low cost of coal vs. higher upfront costs of renewables– Evolving potential of clean energy options

• New technologies e.g. concentrating solar• Environmental and social impacts of conventional vs. clean

technologies– Local issues vs. global climate change?

Balancing Interests…The Importance of Governance

• Regulatory decisions involve judgment– Incomplete information– Multiple solutions– Competing interests

• Needs regulatory credibility (in addition to technical capacity) – Robust decision making process – “input” vs. “output” credibility

Clean Energy and Regulatory Governance

• Clarity of mandate• Completeness and accessibility of information• Depth of stakeholder engagement• Capacity

– Regulators– Government– Civil society – Industry